Mike Burr - log

[mind] Smugfuckem

Stupid people have a particular way of "arguing". Of course I'm not talking about all stupid people and I'm not talking about stupid people exclusively but this is a handy conversational trick that people who, say for example frequently lose "arguments" find that they can use to either have the appearance of winning an argument or to shut down an argument quickly and easily.

I'm interested in knowing what the name of this technique is. If it doesn't have a name then I have an opportunity to name it. Because it's common, destructive and infuriating.

As it does not have a name I'll start with an example that is illustrative and will hopefully help recall any encounters that you may have had with this technique.

person 1: I think in some limited instances there's nothing wrong with people voluntarily pooling their money and using it in ways that may help some that otherwise would not have access to that quantity of money.

person 2: Oh, I see, so is that what you commies think?

The closest English word that I can think of that describes this is "couching". I don't like that word because it has a soft consonant in the middle and sounds like something that could be misunderstood or confused for a different word. It's also an opportunity for your so-called opponent to say back to you, "oh well I could use a little rest is there a couch?" (hyuk hyuk)

The main feature of this "technique" is that it allows the opponent to score points despite having broken the rules, at least in their mind. Another nice feature is that any amount of defense is DEFENSE; that is anything you say after this point is a defense of something that you are likely not guilty of in the first place. Alternatively you could point out the subtle unfairness of this statement and patiently explain to your "debate opponent" this is not something that furthers human knowledge or gets us closer to the actual answers to any questions but rather is something that has an effect only between the ears of the speaker.

Of course this is something that will have no effect whatsoever when faced with utter stupidity.

I propose the stand-in term "smugfuckem".